The military convoy was heading for Rasht district, an area about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the Afghan border, when it was attacked in a valley Sunday, Defense Ministry spokesman Faridun Makhmadaliyev said Monday.[break]
He said the attackers were led by Mullo Abdullo, a radical Islamic commander who took an active part in the five-year civil war that devastated this former Soviet republic in the 1990s.
Another warlord, Alovuddin Davlatov, is also suspected to have taken part in Sunday´s ambush, Makhmadaliyev said, as well as citizens from Afghanistan and Pakistan and fighters from the volatile southern Russian region of Chechnya.
Abdullo fled to Afghanistan after the end of the civil war in 1997, but he is believed to have returned to his native country some time last year.
Davlatov´s brother, a politician with the opposition Islamic Revival Party, was detained by security services 10 days ago on suspicion of belonging to a banned extremist organization.
As well as the 23 deaths, many soldiers were seriously wounded and were evacuated for treatment after Sunday´s ambush, Makhmadaliyev said.
Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, who is currently in New York to attend a session of the United Nations General Assembly, ordered the attackers brought to justice.
Police patrols in the Tajik capital already have been increased amid rising tension following a string of terrorist blasts and a large-scale prison escape by Islamist insurgents and government opponents.
A suicide bombing against a police station in the northern city of Khujand earlier this month claimed two victims and wounded 25. Days later, a bomb was detonated in a disco in Dushanbe, wounding seven.
Authorities believe Islamic militants were responsible for both bombings.
Most Islamist fighters gave up armed resistance after reaching an uneasy peace settlement with the government. But many returned with a hard-line anti-government position over concerns they were being squeezed out of official positions granted to them as part of the peace agreement.
Military activity in the remote and mountainous Rasht Valley, where Abdullo is believed to have taken refuge, has picked up in recent weeks as authorities seek to capture 18 men still on the run after a dramatic prison breakout last month.
Only seven of the 25 fugitives, who included many Islamic militants and government opponents, have been captured.
Related story
Uganda says al-Shabab kills 12 soldiers in Somalia ambush
_20210319112702.jfif)
_20191222200001.jpg)
